LR2B: A No Good, Very Bad Long Run

I am a little more than half way there. Today I ran 18 miles, making week 8 my first week of training during which I broke the 30 mile barrier.

Today also sucked. Hard core sucked.

Up until this morning, I have been on the upswing with each week leaving me feeling more like myself. I'm not quite where I was last spring, which was what I would call the peak of my fitness to date. But I have been getting close to it.

There were a few things that came together to make this morning miserable. One: a pretty challenging route that included the Nickel Bridge and the steep uphill on the other side of it, as well as the hilly section of Riverside Drive (hills that I used to chew up and spit out, by the way) and the long slow include up 2nd Street. Not as bad as 5th Street or even 9th, but Belvidere would've been better.

Two: the weather. 59 degrees at the start and full sun. In February. What the hell. During the summer, this would have been a fantastic cool weather run. In the middle of "winter," it is a terrible hot run.

Last night I was having a complete crisis in confidence and was full on dreading the run. It is never a good feeling to show up to your training run wishing it was over before it even starts. Despite my lack of enthusiasm, things started out ok. For the first 10 miles - the hilliest part - I hung with Lauren and we averaged something around an 8:00/mile pace. This is, of course, faster than I need to be running on long runs and I full well know it. But I just can't help myself. It's so difficult for me to run slower than I naturally want to, even when I know that doing so will only result in pain and suffering later on.

Around mile 10, after we had made the seemingly endless run up 2nd Street, I knew I was toast and that the next 8 miles were not going to be pretty.  Thankfully they were blessedly flat; if they had been anything other than flat I may not have made it back. The temperature was rising, the sun was beating down on us. Lauren and Eric, who we had picked up along the way, got ahead of me at Floyd and I let them go; I had to make a quick bathroom break (thanks, Robinson & Stuart Starbucks), which hardly ever happens to me; and when I got to the mile 12 SAG I took my good old time standing there and eating my whole Gu and drinking a few cups of water. I probably stood there for 5 minutes, trying to work myself up to get moving again.

But as I often say, when you're out there, the only way to get back is to keep running. So I did. Slowly. My pace dropped to barely keeping a 9:00. I stopped at GAWS and there were no cups left, so I put my face under the spout of the cooler and poured the water directly into my mouth. I took a wrong turn (nooooooooooo) and thought I missed the last SAG at 16. I was about to just stop and yell "Paaaaammmmm where arrrrreeeee you?????" when I caught a glimpse of the blessed big blue and orange coolers off to my left and made my way ever so slowly to them.

Three other runners from the group were also at the SAG. We exchanged whining about the terrible weather; two moved on and the third offered to run back with me. Thank goodness too; chatting with Mike about his experiences in Boston and trying to keep up with him is what got me to the end. I haven't been so glad to see the end of a run in a long while.

I found a shady spot of concrete back at the parking lot and sat down for a minute partially because it felt cool and partially because I did not want to move another step. I took the opportunity to capture my true feelings about this run.

I was so tired I don't even care that I was on the dirty ground.

That is exhaustion, folks.

The aftermath has not been pretty either. I'm hobbling around the house, my legs hurt and my feet hurt terribly. I used to run 18 miles and feel perfectly fine. Well, maybe not perfectly fine, but pretty decent. After a much-needed shower and replenishing my salt levels with some french fries, I slept on the couch for almost two hours. I'm still feeling pretty groggy and working tonight should be interesting.

In the back of my mind, I am trying to remember how much I missed this. How much time I spent crying last summer because I wasn't doing this. And to remind myself that one crappy run doesn't mean much - crappy runs happen. I have five more weeks of real training before my taper to get my act together and truly be ready to run 26.2 again. Here's to hoping next week is not so warm.

Tackling Twenty

This weekend marks my second (and last!) twenty mile run of the Steamtown training cycle, but for many of my MTT Midnight teammates, this will be their first ever 20 miler.

Just one year ago I was in their shoes and frankly, I was terrified - of the unknown but also of the potential for failure. In my mind, if I wasn't able to hack it on a 20 mile training run, I'd never in a million years be able to do 10k on top of that and successfully finish a marathon. I was also afraid that it would be a terrible experience and that I would never want to do it again and hence, would be miserable for the rest of training and for the marathon itself.

As with so many things, there are 438,413,043,180 articles, blogs, and boards that you could read for advice on how to survive your first twenty mile run. The problem with that is that nobody has time to read 438,413,043,180 articles, blogs, or boards and that even if you could read just 10 of them, you'd likely get 10 different takes that probably even contradict each other. I know this because I tried to come up with the perfect plan last year.

In the end, the sea of information was too overwhelming and I ended up relying upon two things: 1) advice from my trusted teammates and friends, and 2) my own experience to that point.

In an effort to pay it forward and maybe help out some of the Team Midnight 20 Mile Virgin Club, I'm going to take a few minutes to share how I have tackled my 20 mile runs. To be sure, I'm no expert - I have only run 20 or more miles 6 times - but thankfully, each time has turned out to be a not-so-bad (and sometimes even joyous!) experience.

Step One: It's Just One More Mile
This was the approach I take for every single training run as things start to ramp up. Without a doubt, the mental aspect of your "longest run ever" has the biggest impact on your performance. For me, the way to deal with it is not think of it as 20 miles, but rather as the longest run I've done + a few. For most of the first-timers on MTT, that figure is 19 + 1.

Let's think about that for a minute.

This weekend, you will run one measly mile more than you ever have before. At this point, running a mile is such a walk in the park that you barely even notice you've done it. Remember that when you get to 19. You could run that mile in your SLEEP.

Mind games = solved.

Step Two: Preparation
Hey party animals, I hate to break it to you, but to successfully complete your 20 miler and not feel like death, you are going to have to become a well-behaved social outcast starting 48 hours beforehand. For MTT Midnight, that means Thursday which is tough. I can't tell you how much I miss having a nice glass (or two...) or wine on Friday night after a long work week.

But hey, training for a marathon is tough. If you're not up for it, stay out on your Friday nights drinking and go run a half instead (JUST KIDDING!).

Preparation comes in three parts for me: meal planning, being mindful about hydration, and
making smart activity choices.

Meal Planning - Everyone is different when it comes to what foods they can and cannot handle before a long run. I found out the hard way that dairy is a NO GO for me. So I make sure that consumption of cheese, yogurt, cream-based sauces, and ice cream is kept to a minimum, especially on Friday. As a cheese and ice cream lover, this very hard for me.

But again, training for a marathon requires sacrifices. And besides, after the run, I can eat as much cheese and ice cream as I want.

I also steer clear of coffee/lattes/cappuccinos of any kind the night before, soda, big salads, fried foods, and any kind of medicine that isn't a part of my daily routine. Even if I have a huge headache or congestion the night before a run, I won't take an Advil or Sudafed. It's so ugly the next day that I'd rather try to fight through it than risk the alternative.

Oh - and Mexican or beans. Not a good idea. Trust me on that one.

In those 48 hours leading up to the long run, I try to up my carb intake and calorie intake, focusing on protein and good fats like avocado, olive oils, breads, peanut butter, nuts, granola, and eggs. My fuel of choice for the night before the run is usually either a pasta with olive oil or tomato based sauce and chicken or a baked potato with minimum butter alongside a giant lean cut of steak. Both come with additional bread (of course).

Hydration - Then there is the hydration. Being runners, we all just loooooooove to talk about what we like to eat, but not so much about how much we should love to drink water too. I think that a lot of people just assume they can drink the night before or morning of and be ok. For some, it probably works. For me, I start to consciously drink more water at least the day before. I like to think of myself as a camel getting ready to make a long trek - gotta stock up on that water. Of course I realize that people are not camels and it doesn't exactly work that way, but you get the idea.

By the way, here are some things that don't count as hydration:

• Beer
• Wine
• Any other alcohol
• Soda

Seems pretty self-evident, but I have heard stories of people who go out drinking the night before a long run or race and then wonder why they cramped up or crash. Because alcohol (and soda) is a diuretic that dehydrates you. Save your celebratory drink for after your long run.


Activity Level - Perhaps the hardest thing to be smart about is the activity piece of things. And it's the easiest to over look.

I try my best to not do anything on a Friday (cross train or run) before a super long training run. I'd prefer my legs to be as fresh as possible.

I try not to be on my feet excessively the day before either, whether it's standing still or walking around a lot. (For instance, going to an amusement park and walking around the park + standing in one spot while in long lines is not a good idea the day before your 20.)

Even though it pains me, I typically don't go out to movies or game nights or other social gatherings on Friday. I go home, I fuel up, I lay out the stuff I need for the next day, and I go to sleep. Make sure you get a really good night of sleep. It's boring and makes you a social outcast, but that is the price you pay to be a marathoner.

Step Three: Run It
You're ready, mentally and physically, so now just go do what you do - run.

Use the 20 as a test for marathon day.

• Wear your marathon outfit.
• Don't dawdle at the SAGs - get what you need and go. On marathon day, you won't stand around and gab at SAGs, so practice that now.
• Carry whatever you plan to carry - water, fuel, phone - so that you know if it will get on your nerves or not.
• Try different fueling options. I fuel on pretzels, gummi bears, and candy corn, since that is what I'm used to from SAGs. If you're going to attempt Gu, sport beans, energy chews, etc you'd better do it now.
• Practice drinking and/or eating while running. I still stink at drinking on the run, but have gotten slightly better.
• When you get tired, imagine what you would do on race day. Try to find it within yourself to keep running, no matter what.

Have fun too. Remember that what you are doing is an incredible accomplishment. Enjoy the time with your teammates. Talk about the food you are going to celebrate with. Tell them when you're feeling bad - they'll pull you through. Tell bad jokes. Be on the lookout for "That's what she said!" moments. When everyone's brain starts turning to mush, work together to make sure you don't take a wrong turn and end up going 22 miles instead of 20 (it has happened).

Don't be surprised if you get emotional near the end of your first 20. I still get goose bumps thinking about mine. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried a little bit.

Step Four: Aftermath
You just ran 20 miles, woo hoo! That means you can sit on the couch for the next 10 hours and not move a muscle until you transfer yourself into your bed, right?

WRONG.

That is probably the worst thing you can do.

It's simple physics - a body in motion stays in motion.

Try to walk a little and stay somewhat active for at least part of the rest of the day. You will hurt a lot more the next day if you don't. I usually feast, then go home, shower, put on compression socks, take a nap, then try to be active around the house - even if it just doing laundry or cleaning.

Oh, and make sure you CELEBRATE. You were a well-behaved monk for 48 hours - go out and reap the rewards now.

----------------------------------

So that is my not-so-sage advice for tackling your 20 miler. I feel like I can stand by it, because of all of my 20+ mile runs, only one of them was miserable (Raleigh Rock n Roll Marathon, I'm looking at you). To be honest, the rest were actually pretty great. Empowering. FUN, even - because I have found what works for me.

Do you have to do all of this stuff? Nope. I bet you could run twenty miles even without thoughtful preparation and rest. A lot of people do. But here's my thing - do you want that 20 miles to be a slog, or do you want to feel victorious when it is over? Do you want to do it just to get it over with, or do you want to feel like you have improved and grown as a runner?

For me, I don't want to go on a half assed 3+ hour run at the butt crack of dawn on a Saturday morning. If you're going to do it, why not do your best?

With that, I'll wish you happy prepping and see you all out there on Saturday!

Further reading on my 20+ experiences from last year's MTT, if you're interested or bored:

First 20 Miler Ever
Second

Runner in a Strange Land

So many bloggers have already waxed rhapsodic on the glories of discovering a new place via running, so I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel on that topic.

Instead, I'm going to tell you how I went about figuring out how to fix the problem of getting in a long run (15 miles+) in a city you hardly know and whose recent runner-centered headlines have all been about female joggers getting assaulted.

Ah yes, Baltimore, Maryland. Since I am a Marylander, it is perfectly OK for me to say that Baltimore is definitely NOT my favorite city. In fact, it is in my list of "Top 5 Cities That I Hate". Nothing personal to any Baltimore readers, but I just can't really find anything redeeming about the place. And yes, I've been all over the city, not just to the Inner Harbor.

So you can imagine how excited I was to learn that Husband was going to be a groomsman in a wedding that was taking place in Baltimore. And that it was going to happen on the day of my first scheduled 20-miler.

(The answer is "not very")

Being the Planny McPlanerston that I am, as soon as I discovered that I was going to need to cover 20 miles  at some point that weekend, I hit Google in search of a Baltimore training team. The thought of running 20 miles on a tread mill at our hotel seemed like a fate worse than death and going it alone seemed like a bad idea too. I know Baltimore from a tourist/visitor perspective, but not well enough to know where the best areas to run are. So it seemed like the best bet was to find a group that was training and try to reach out to them or bandit a run.

I ended up connecting with the Baltimore Road Runners club, who have a marathon training team. Unfortunately their scheduled mileage didn't work out for me (they were tapering and only doing 10), but the very helpful lady I emailed with suggested I check out the Baltimore Pacemakers group. A quick jump onto Facebook and a wall message later and I was set to join the Pacemakers on the Saturday morning of the wedding.

I carefully researched a carb-loading opportunity for Friday night and happily discovered Grano's Pasta Bar, which was fairly close to our hotel in the Hampden neighborhood. Authentic Italian build-your-own pasta? I'm there.

I wanted everything on the menu, but settled for bread and olive oil, penne pasta, and pomodoro sauce. I desperately wanted to have a giant meatball, a cannoli, and a cappuccino, but knew that those could be a very big problem the next day. My pasta was cooked to Italian al dente perfection, the olive oil was absolutely divine, and the bread was just the right amount of squishy.

It was probably the best carb loading I've ever engaged in.

On Saturday morning, I was very nervous as I drove myself to the meeting point. Per my usual modus operandi, I arrived extremely early. Happily, our meeting spot was a Starbucks, so I was able to go inside and use the facilities. Also happily, the organizer of the Pacemakers, a very awesome man named Bob Hilson, was already there and wearing a Run RVA hat! I introduced myself and answered the usual set of questions that happen when a runner meets another runner for the first time:

Where are you from? Richmond, but I grew up in Maryland in Hagerstown.
What race are you training for? Richmond
Is it your first? Yep
How long are you running today? However long you guys are.

Bob dubbed me "Hagerstown" and we chatted for a few more minutes as the gathering grew to about 50 runners. I started asking around to see who else was planning on doing 18 and wasn't having much luck. Most of the folks there were training for the Baltimore Marathon on October 12 and were therefore tapering. So, when Bob handed out the route, I diligently tried to study it - I say "tried" because although I've been all over Baltimore I'm not overly familiar with the city and the written route meant pretty much nothing to me.

Heck, usually the written routes for our Team Navy runs in Richmond mean nothing to me, and I live here!

When we took off, I was nervous. I was afraid of getting lost, so I let the group dictate my pace. I fell in with another runner and started chatting with her. We stuck together for the first 8 miles, which was basically an out and back down to the Inner Harbour, up Federal Hill, then back to our starting point in Charles Village. Going down to the Inner Harbor seemed easy... the climb back up the hill not so much.

After a quick regroup at the Starbucks, a core of 5-6 of us continued on to the next 7 mile leg, which took us north through Loyola's campus and through the fancy-pants neighborhoods of Baltimore. Again, this was all uphill.

I lost Kim but fell in with another woman and we got to talking. I never asked her name, but we stayed together for the last 6 miles or so. We talked injuries (she has delicate feet too), past race experiences (she has done I can't remember how many marathons - but a lot), and admired the architecture of the fancy houses we were running past. She was very speedy... I stuck with her pace of 8 min miles, but it felt fine because the last 3 miles were downhill.

My elevation chart ended up looking like quite the roller coaster:

I ended up with 16 miles instead of 20, but I wasn't worried. I could have kept going but honestly, I didn't want to run the last bit by myself. There are two more opportunities for me to run 20. My companion said, "You breezed through that. You're going to do great in Richmond."

That made me feel really good.

As more runners joined us back at the Starbucks, we were all standing around chatting jovially and I realized that one of the best things about runners is that they are pretty much the same everywhere. Whether you're in Baltimore or Germany or Richmond, you will always have something to talk about and share that same special brand of crazy.

As I left, Bob called, "Hey Hagerstown, good luck at Richmond!"

That made me feel like part of the family.

I am so very thankful that I found this great group to run with, and eternally grateful for their hospitality to me! I left feeling great, and like I earned the Starbucks Bacon Egg and Gouda Sandwich that I couldn't resist.

Getting my run in also let me relax and enjoy myself for the rest of the day. It was fun to accomplish the 15 miler in the morning, get all sweaty and gross, then take a nap, shower, and get fancied up for the wedding festivities. Kind of like Cinderella.

=)

Husband looks handsome, doesn't he?

So, in conclusion, a big huge THANK YOU to the Baltimore Pacemakers and Bob Hilson. Because of you guys, I have finally (after 30 years) found something redeeming about the City of Baltimore.

And, if you find yourself in Charm City, do yourself a favor and go to Grano's. It was the most authentic pasta experience that I have had outside of Italy. I loved it so much that I insisted on going back for lunch on Saturday, this time taking Jason with me. We had a meatball. And cannoli. And I had a moment of Italian cappuccino zen.

Doesn't get much better than this.

Treadmill: The Outlast Game

I have always been a fairly competitive person. Not quite a full cut throat - probably more like 75% at my worst. As most people will tell you, a competitive streak can be both a blessing and a curse. It has driven me to a number of wonderful accomplishments, but also to some devastating losses. When a fierce competitor, whose drive to win is matched only by perfectionism, doesn't achieve his or her goal (loses), things get pretty ugly.

Since college, my urge to win all has faded as I matured and became more aware that I cannot, in fact, be the best at everything I try my hand at. Maybe the reality is that I have just become jaded; or, as I like to think, I have just become a realist.

When it comes to running I am generally just happy to the best Kathryn I can be. I have absolutely no delusions of grandeur when it comes to racing and running. I know that I am not the fastest runner; that I will not likely win any race or even ever quality for Boston. As I've mentioned in a previous Reason to Run post, every run that I complete feels like a great accomplishment no matter how it goes. Maybe that's why I like running so much - I don't have to be the best to get that feeling that I used to get from being first chair flute or  Valedictorian. I get it just from finishing.

Sometimes, however, that competitive streak comes roaring back and infiltrates my run. It happened this past Saturday. A terrible line of storms came through the mid-Atlantic region on Friday night, knocking out power to millions... including ours. Luckily, our in-laws still had power so after the storm blew through we packed the essentials (dog, toothbrushes, running clothes) and headed to their house to stay the night. So you see, on Saturday I had nothing better to do than go to the Y and run for as long as I could.

When I got there I parked myself on a treadmill next to a guy wearing a Shamrock Marathon hat. I had figured that I'd do about 6 miles, so I grabbed two tabloid magazines, put in my headphones, and got to it. As I ran, I was surprised at how easy it felt. As I neared the 4 mile mark, I could tell that this was going to be one of those runs when I could just go on and on. The treadmills have a 45 minute limit, so once I hit that (at 5.3 miles), it automatically downshifted. I stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from my brow, noticing that the guy next to me was still at it.

I'm not sure what came over me at that minute, but I decided that I was going to play the outlast game with that guy. I have done this before - for whatever reason someone running on the treadmill near me or around the track at the Y will suddenly just inspire me to want to beat them. To outlast them. To run farther and harder than they did. It also happens during races - the most vivid example I can remember being at the Charlottesville Fall Classic 10k last October. During the last 2 miles I had been following a girl with a perfect blonde braid and seemingly perfect all-black clad body. Even though I was dog tired (the last two miles of that race were terribly hilly), I decided I wasn't going to let perfect Miss Blonde Braid beat me. So I pulled out everything I had and beat her.

I got back on the treadmill, set the speed to 6.7 mph, and checked out my new "competitor." He was running only 6 mph. Ha! Got him there. I also knew that he was also on his second round with the treadmill, having already hit his first 45 minute limit. He was going far... which meant I was going to have to go far too... farther than I had in a long time.


When I had hit the 8 mile mark, he was still going. I had run out of trashy magazines, so I decided to do something I hardly ever do and strike up a conversation. I tugged his sleeve and asked him about the Shamrock. I found out his name was Dave and that he's training for Richmond too, but it will be his 3rd marathon. We had a nice little conversation and then he did what I had been waiting for - he stopped running! I tried not to look elated as we said our good byes.


Thanks to Dave and my competitive streak, I managed to run 10 miles on Saturday. That's the farthest I've run since the half marathon in March. It was just what I needed to give a little shot to my confidence a week before I start my marathon training. AND it resulted in me having my highest mileage week ever - 30 total miles.


So there you have it. The outlast game. Try it the next time you are bored and need some inspiration while stuck on the treadmill. Who knows how far you might end up going.

The Week in Running

I've been a little bit M.I.A. lately. Sorry about that. What happened is that I write for a living and I had a lot of work writing going on that was sucking up all of my brain power. So the last thing that I wanted to do when I wasn't working was write some more.

So here is quick catch up.

Tuesday: 4

Wednesday: 6

Friday: 11

Saturday: 2.7

Total: 23.7

Not only did the week contain my longest run ever (!), I also logged the most miles ever in a week and I got to do a "fun run" with my good buddy, hot mother runner Ms. Marcey.

Bad iPhone self-portrait. Sorry. <3 you Marcey!

Now I'm less than a week away from the half marathon. Surprisingly, I feel pretty calm and prepared. I've completed over 260 miles of training for this thing. I'm ready for it. This week I'm going to take it pretty easy, probably running just 3 or 4 miles three nights for a total of 11-12ish miles.

So far the weather is looking awesome. Unlike the Virginia is for Lovers 14k, I am not worried at all about the forecast.

Let me just report briefly on the 11 miler. Prabir had to bail on me for this little thing called SXSW (you know, just a little music festival down in Texas that his band Goldrush is playing this year). I guess I can forgive him.

The evening was perfect though. When I started out it was about 63 degrees with a little breeze. The course I had planned took me up and back the Main Street Gauntlet of Restaurants for the first 5.5 miles or so, then a loop back out Monument Avenue and back to the Downtown Y for the last leg. The problem was that I forgot what my turn around point was on Monument Avenue... sooooo I ended up running about .15 miles too far down Monument.

Usually this wouldn't be a problem and it doesn't sound like a lot (.3 extra miles). But let me tell you, when my Garmin beeped 11 miles, I was not taking one. more. step. It beeped and I was still 6 blocks away from the Y and it had turned cold and windy, so I was pretty darn cold during that power walk back to my car.

But I did it. I ran 11 miles and it actually didn't feel terrible. As usual, miles 2, 3, 6, and 7 felt hard at times. The last 2 miles felt fine.  Shockingly fine.

Mile 10 was a little on the slow side because I stopped to stretch for a few seconds. For some reason, my Garmin suddenly stopped tracking my moving pace vs. elapsed time. I didn't hit many stop lights during the 11 miles, but I did stop briefly to stretch a few times, so I think my actual moving time was closer to 1:40. If I manage to run this pace on Sunday, I just might  run a sub 2:00 half.

We'll see. At this point, I'll just be happy to finish!





Smells and the City

Last night I totally kicked butt on my longest ever non-race run!

And I learned some important lessons.

So let's get to it!

Let's be honest - I've been dreading this training week ever since I put it on my schedule three months ago. The dreaded 10 mile long run week. The last (and only) other time I've run 10 miles was the Army 10 Miler in Washington, DC in October and it was not pretty. In fact, when I was finished I posted this status update on my Facebook:

"Well... I think that 10 miles may be the furthest I ever run. Lord. Have. Mercy. (unofficial time 1:52:35)"

After I recovered from that terrible experience, I analyzed what I think  went wrong (bad choice of pre-race food, not enough water before the race, and taking an Advil before the race) and now try to make sure that I avoid those things. I was determined that this 10 miler would be better. So, I planned my "fuel" very carefully: 1/2 peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread at noon, a smoothie with pre-workout enhancer around 2:30 (unplanned bag of Pirate's Booty at 2:30... whoops), lots of water between 3:00 and 4:30, and Swedish Fish for the run itself.

      

The crazy "winter" weather in Richmond has continued - and believe me I use the term "winter" very  loosely. Yesterday's high was in the upper 70's. Yes, the upper 70's on March 1. I wasn't very thrilled about that because, as I've mentioned before, I hate sweating and I hate running when it is anything that could be called warm.

When Prabir and I met outside of the Y at 4:55ish it was 70 degrees with a slight breeze. I wish I had thought to take my phone into the Y to take an illegal locker room pic because even if I wasn't feeling the 10 miler I was about to do in the 70 degree weather, I was totally feeling my outfit. I wore my new sneaks (which, sadly, are going to have to go back, more on that later), my herringbone gray Lulu shorts, and my the new Paris Pink Striped Cool Racerback that I bought on Fat Tuesday with a black sports bra underneath. It was super cute. I also have to say that the Striped Ribbed Racerback is the  most comfortable running shirt that I have ever run in. Since it was 70 degrees, I was sweating buckets, but I never once felt overly hot or like my shirt was getting damp. A real miracle.

Anyways, the first 6 miles of the run were pretty uneventful. Prabir and I talked a lot, which was a good thing. We established that my new nickname is K.Prime and that Prabir's name is very fun to say backwards (Ribarp). When I was getting kind of delirious during mile 4, every time Prabir started to talk I would say "RIBARP!" and interrupt him. It was kind of ridiculous - I was like an annoying drunk person that you just want to punch.

Sorry about that, Prabs. I was just trying to distract myself from the fact that it felt like my stomach was about to explode while my left foot simultaneously popped off.

During miles 4 and 5 I kind of felt like death and wanted to quit, but we ran the whole thing. I designed the 10 mile route in such a way that it was out and back for 6 miles, then the last 4 miles were a loop back out so if Prabir didn't want to hang for the full 10, we could easily part at the 6 mile mark, which we did.

After a high five, I left Prabir and his OMK (Old Man Knee) and set out to finish up. By this time the sun had all but set and it was feeling cooler. In fact, I would say I got a second wind and felt pretty darn good during miles 6 and 7. Except for one thing. This is where I learned an important lesson about running in the city (and where the title of this post finally makes sense).

The first leg of the run had been up and down Monument Avenue, which, while pretty, is also bereft of restaurants. However, I had stupidly planned the last 4 miles of my 10 mile dinner-time run down a stretch of Main Street that includes nearly twenty restaurants.

Don't believe me? Here's a list that's not even completely inclusive: City Dogs, Mulligans Sports Grille, Baja Bean Company, Home Team Grille, Six Burner Restaurant, Bacchus, Sidewalk Cafe, Rowland Fine Dining, Delux, Sticky Rice, F.W. Sullivan's, 3 Monkey's Bar & Grille, Avalon, Roxy Cafe, Piccola Pizza & Subs, and Star-Lite Lounge.

Because it was so beautiful, many of them had thrown open their windows and opened outdoor seating. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than running the last half of your 10 miler past patio after patio of people happily noshing on all kinds of delicious delicacies. Even worse than seeing them eating is all of the amazing smells of deep fried goodness, pizza, coffee, and Chinese food that waft to you.

Torture. Complete. Torture.

In the future I will not be taking that route again. The Swedish Fish that I was carrying with me did nothing to quell my cravings after inhaling all of the delicious aromas wafting from the restaurants of Main Street.

Here's the report from the Almighty Garmin.



This completely shatters my only other 10 mile time (1:49:31) by more than 15 minutes. While I was tired and absolutely covered with a thin layer of salt by the time I got back to my car, I didn't feel too bad. After the Army 10 Miler I felt like death. So, all in all, I'd have to say I've come pretty far in the last few months!

Next week brings my longest run ever - 11 miles. That will be the last long run of my half marathon training before my taper week leading up to the race. It's going to take some creative course planning to avoid running down Main Street during that one, but I will definitely not be running the restaurant gauntlet again.

 

Longest Non-Race Run Ever!

And I just want to say again that plantar fasciitis can kiss my gluteus maximus. I ran 9 miles tonight and my arch does not hurt at all. Ha!

Like the title says, this was my longest ever non-race run. I was pretty nervous about it, not because of the distance, but because of how my stupid foot has been behaving lately. Once again, the weather was amazing for February - a balmy 65 degrees. Let me remind you that it snowed on Monday.

Welcome to Central Virginia, the land of bi-polar weather.

Anyhow, Prabir joined for me tonight. He lasted until 8.5 miles, when he had to stop thanks to some serious cramping. I kept going with out him (sorry Prabs). I was amazed at how great I felt - not short of breath at all, my foot didn't hurt. The only thing that hurt a little bit was my left hip. By the end of the run there was a nice breeze going and I felt perfect.

Here's what the mighty Garmin had to say.

You can see where we walked in mile 7 and then paused to
stretch in mile 8, which didn't work things out enough for poor Prabir.

Moving pace is dramatically better than elapsed time.
We hit lots of red lights, naturally.

I'm really really pleased with this run and I'm hoping that I've seen the last of the arch pain for a while.

My new Brooks came last night, but I opted to not test drive them on this 9 miler. I'm going to do that on Friday, when I have 5 miles of tempo work scheduled.

Oh, and my reward for 9 miles? A delicious spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's.

Sorry this entry wasn't very entertaining... we are currently tied with Northeastern, a terrible team. We are playing like crap and we just went into overtime. Ugh! So needless to say, despite the great run, I'm not in a great mood since we are losing to a team that has lost 5 of its last 6 games!

Tempting Fate on Monument Avenue

Ever since mile 7 of the Virginia is for Lovers 14k, the arch of my left foot has been howling at me. I'm not sure what the problem is. Being the pessimistic person that I am, I immediately self-diagnosed my problem as plantar flaciitis and started to research stretches and treatment options. I've been doing a series of stretches and rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle, but it doesn't seem to be helping very much. Insisting on running 4 miles with Prabir on Monday despite pretty bad pain in the arch probably didn't help matters.

But I am stubborn and despite this, I was determined to run the full 6 miles scheduled for tonight. One, the weather today was absolutely gorgeous and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to have a nice outdoor run. Two, I was lazy last night and decided to not go to yoga as scheduled. So I stuck my Zensa compression ankle support on my left foot thinking that maybe that would help and set out on my usual 6 miles route.

Around mile 2 my arch started to hurt. But I kept going and told myself that maybe running in the grassy median that runs down Monument Avenue would be better than running on the sidewalk.

Image source 

Pretty, right? Of course right now there are no lovely leaves. But this is where the tempting fate part comes in. The thing about Monument Avenue is that it is a residential street in a city and this grassy median is, naturally, where people take their dogs for walks. And we all know what dogs do on walks. We also all know that not all dog owners pick up after their pets.

But my arch hurt so much by the time I hit the 3 mile point that I decided that I'd rather run in the median and take the rather large risk of stepping in a pile of dog poo than keep running on the concrete sidewalk.

Luckily I made it through the dog poo gauntlet unscathed this evening. Unfortunately, I don't think that running on the grass helped my pain at all. As I write I'm sitting with a giant bag of ice under my foot. It has gone numb at this point. I'm feeling pretty bummed about the whole situation. The next 3 weeks are the most intense of my training for the half marathon and the last thing I need is to be sidelined by a foot problem.

I think that my iPod is starting to be able to sense my mood. Tonight I was having a really hard time with this run and suddenly I was treated to what seemed like non-stop Lady Gaga tracks, even though the iPod was set to shuffle. I'd say that Gaga tunes always provide me with the most inspiration when I'm running. I imagine that if I just keep running (and running... and running...) that somehow my legs will magically lengthen, my cellulite will disappear, and I will be svelte enough to be able to rock a Gaga-esque outfit such as the one featured in her Monster Ball tour poster:

Yes, I've convinced myself that if I run enough,
I can be this hot.

Tonight some of my favorites got pumped into my skull at just the right times: "Starstruck" during mile 1, "Just Dance" during mile 3, "Bad Romance" during mile 6.

In the end, things shook out pretty nicely even with the intense foot pain.

In other news, last night Sherrod Wright of the GMU Men's Basketball team gave me (and all of Mason Nation) a fabulous Valentine's Day present:

VCU is our biggest rival and this game was tight the whole way through. I was convinced that we were going to lose and had already written a capitulation tweet when we were down by 2 with 3.8 seconds to go. When Wright hit this basket, at first I didn't even realize what happened and then it hit me. I leapt out of bed and started yelling "HOLY SH*T!" over and over, jumping up and down. It was an AWESOME ending to a hard fought game.

Hmmmm... perhaps all that jumping up and down wasn't the best idea for my foot. Oh well. It was worth it because now the three way tie for #1 in the CAA conference is down to 2 - Drexel and George Mason! We face VCU again on February 25 here in Richmond and yours truly has tickets. Can't. Wait.

Are you stubborn like me and run despite injury?

What music inspires you the most when you run?

If I run enough, will I be able to look like Gaga?

Eight Again

Another eight miles with Prabir in the books.

First, let me share my outfit. I've been waiting for the perfect run to debut this top.

The locker room kinda looks like a prison.

Top: Lululemon Run: Stay On Course Tank
Bottoms: Lululemon Groove Biker Short (no longer available)

Let me just say that I love love love this tank. I love the pattern and I love the details on the back (you'll have to follow the link to see that). It was also incredibly comfortable throughout my run.

Anyhow, as expected, the day was beautiful. It's hard to believe it was February 1st. When I left work it was about 68 degrees with a light wind. Prabir was running a little bit late, so after I took my illegal locker room photos I went up and admired the view.

That's the Jefferson Hotel with the tower.

Prabir showed up and we set out. The run felt a lot easier than it did last week, but somehow we ended up being slower than before. Probably because we were making a special effort to take it easy and not kill ourselves by running too fast the first two miles, and we did have to walk a few blocks because of Prabir's Old Man Knee. Here's how things looked.

Hmmmm can you tell when we walked?

I'm including this one because it shows our moving time was actually
a minute and then some faster. 

The only thing that gave me any trouble for the whole run was my right shoulder, of all things. I think I can thank last night's yoga for that.

We mixed things up a bit by taking some alternative streets parallel to Monument - a big deal for me because spontaneity is not usually a part of my behavior. It was nice to have some new scenery. When I get too used to a route, it becomes too easy for me to concentrate on how far I have gone/have left. Generally it's better if I don't know how far I've gone.

Ignorance is bliss.

When I got home there was a delicious bowl of from-scratch Chicken Marsala waiting for me,  prepared by fabulous personal chef husband.

Am I a lucky woman or what?

A Punny Running Partner

I'm a lucky girl. My regular running partner is a rockstar-scientist-chick magnet-storyteller who keeps me so entertained as we tick off our miles in downtown Richmond that sometimes I almost forget that we are running our butts off. I make fun of his old man knee (he is 31 to my 28). He regales me with tales of his latest space-related discovery and uncanny ability to come up with puns. For example, a recent chat with Prabir produced the following:

We make a good team.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Prabir.

This is an old picture, but a goodie.

So after my epic fail yesterday, Prabir very kindly agreed to run the 8 miler with me this evening.

Things started off well. I remembered my socks.

Again, we were lucky to have great weather. Clear skies, light breeze, low 50s. I had a crazy day at work, so I didn't exactly prepare very well when it came to hydration and food (but better than Prabir, who confessed that all he consumed all day was 4 cups of black coffee, a grilled cheese sandwich, and tater tots - the latter right before our run).

Still, it was an overall decent outing. We didn't keel over in exhaustion, though we did walk maybe 4 blocks total whenever Prabir's grilled cheese or old man knee acted up.

The only problem we have when running together is that we get so involved in conversation that we don't pace ourselves and the result is erratic/crazy pace changes. Tonight's jaunt was the perfect example:

During mile 1 I was saying, "Prabir, we've GOT to slow down." So we would slow down... then forget to pace ourselves. When mile 2 beeped and I checked out our lap info to see that we had picked it up to 8:55 I said, "Prabir! We HAVE TO SLOW DOWN or we're going to DIE before you get to go on your date tonight, and that would be tragic."

We walked a few blocks during miles 5, 6, and 7.

Even though this was a little bit slower than my last 8 miler (right before Christmas, about 9:15 average pace), I'm ok with it. With still more than a month until the half marathon, I'm not going to sweat the slowish pace.

Tomorrow and Friday will be rest days out of necessity - tomorrow I'm giving J a break from cooking dinner and packing up for our weekend trip to Maryland for my Dad's birthday, and Friday we'll be on the road.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a piece of cake.